Batman: Arkham Knight

What If Batman Arkham Knight Isn't The Best Game Ever Made?

A lot of people are going to tell you Batman: Arkham Knight is one of the best games at the show. I'm not going to argue that. I've seen it, and it's awesome. I got to play the game and I totally love it; but here's a counter argument for what could still go wrong.

I'm a huge Batman fan (I weigh about 200 pounds, but my love for Batman is well over 500). I love the comics, I’ve loved the movies, and I’ve obsessed over Rocksteady’s recent games. Maybe I’m bias, and maybe I just love too much, but there are a few things about Batman: Arkham Knight I want to nitpick about.

The Batmobile shouldn't be a big focus of the gameI think that the Batmobile is a great element of the Batman universe, and I think it makes sense to want to put it in the game, but it looks like Rocksteady is making too big of a push with the car. The Batmobile can transform from racing mode to a battle mode where it performs more like a strafing artillery tank. Like all of Rocksteady’s games, the mechanics and animations are extremely polished, but I worry that the Batmobile’s battle mode mechanic doesn't fit with the overall structure of the Arkham games.

During one part of my demo I remote controlled the Batmobile and had it blow open a wall and then grapple an elevator cable in order to raise and lower the elevator box for Batman to access a new area. I love the idea of incorporating the Batmobile into more puzzles like this. Unfortunately, most of the marketing we’ve seen for the Batmobile so far has focused on the more tank-like battle mode that has Batman strafing drones and blasting them into debris. That kind of gameplay feels a little too much like a generic shooter to me. I hope it’s not a major facet of the gameplay, because it doesn’t fit with my idea of Batman.

This Story Is Still UnprovenThe first two Batman games didn’t tell the most complex or narratively rich stories in video games, but they were still incredibly fun tales that incorporated a lot of nice elements from Batman’s mythos. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that Batman: The Animated Series writer Paul Dini helped draft the story. With Arkham Knight, Rocksteady is handling the game’s story in house. This makes me a little nervous.

The team got to create a new character for the game, a villain called Arkham Knight. This new character’s design is great, as he looks kind of like a military inspired version of Batman himself. I know Rocksteady worked with DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns to create the character, and I don’t know how much work Johns has done on the character, but I get the impression Rocksteady is writing a lot of a dialogue themselves. Based on what I saw at E3 this might not be a smart choice. Despite the fact that Arkham Knight looks incredibly badass, most of his dialogue came across as if he were an antsy teenager who was obsessed with killing Batman. Hopefully, Arkham Knight will have an amazing and rich story, but for the moment I feel like Rocksteady is unproven in this particular area.

Why does everything have to be so boxy and edgy and sexualized?I think the title for this section pretty much speaks for itself, but I’ll go ahead an elaborate on it, because that’s what writers do. The Batman Arkham games have always had a distinct design style. If you’ve played one, or even seen the concept art for the characters, you know exactly what it is. I don’t feel like this style is wrong, but I have started to grow tired of it over the course of the series.

Some gamers have already complained how Harley Quinn and Catwoman have been portrayed as hyper-sexualized beings. Why is this necessary? In fact, I think these kinds of extreme designs take away from the games overall believability (though I understand believability is already stretch somewhat thin for a character who dresses up like a bat to fight crime).

Additionally, Batman, his villains, and pretty much every other character in the game seems over masculinized. Commissioner Gordan looks like he takes creatine in his coffee, and even characters like the Penguin and the Joker seem a littler bulkier than they are in the comics. This bulky design sense carries through to every part of the game – from the Batmobile, to the architecture, to the weapons and tools Batman uses in the game. I don’t want a wimpy looking Batman, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a more grounded and realistic depiction of the character.

Despite these complaints and concerns, I’m still incredibly excited about Arkham Knight and the game could be my game of the show. Does that make me a hypocrite? No, it just means I care too much.

Jesus H man why do people need to cry all the time about sexy females and buff guys in video games. The other complaints are more valid but seriously would you prefer if Catwoman and Harley weighed in at 250 and wore sweats? They are strong female characters and I think their outfits are good fits for them accentuating their style and sexuality that they exude as being strong sexy women. We really need to move past this as an issue for gamers and grow up. Not feeling the need to whine and apologize for every female that is sexy or wears revealing clothes, it's a fantasy. As for the buff guy bit, well they are thugs and fighters and need to be in shape and look intimidating. Again I don't think Joe the 350lb couch potato is really believable as a bad guy when he would get winded chasing you down the block and roll back home after one punch. How much respect do you have when you see out of shape cops on the force? None. You snicker inside and make a cop and doughnut joke. Then think about what crimes you could get away with in his presence by running away from the tub of lard. Bravo to commissioner Gorgon for doing something about his fitness. :)

None of these are really problems for me. You make a good point about the story, but I don't think they'll mess up what will be their final Arkham game. I'm sure they'll put a lot of thought into it and make it as memorable as can be.

Good read and good questions. Sadly Ben the final gripe about over sexualizing a character is something comic books do a LOT. Comic books and regular TV shows are all about mediocrity. That is why there is no 1 batman or 1 superman or a wonderwoman. There are facsimiles of facsimiles in all of these. You can thank the overtly inane fear of being politically incorrect or gender preference. This is the hypocritical sensualist media life style we lead.

Agreed on these points. Well said.
Regarding the Batmobile, I saw some scenes where you're basically driving a tank around Gotham and shooting missiles, and it looked absolutely ridiculous and completely out of place for Batman. I immediately found myself less interested in the game, when I had previously been excited about it.
And yes, most of the male characters in the series have been way too bulked up and hyper-masculinized. Why are they all so thick and beefy?

While I think the battle mode of the Batmobile is a bit of stretch, I personally like that the Batmobile has a large role in Arkham Knight. Had it just been an optional set piece, I personally would have felt Rocksteady was using it as a gimmick to sell more copies of the game. I want the Batmobile to add an entirely new dynamic to the Arkham games in a meaningful way.

I've never personally been a fan of Rocksteady's storytelling. I thought Asylum had a better story than City. I actually felt Origins was the strongest, albeit not even developed by Rocksteady. That being said, what makes Rocksteady's games great are the game play and being immersed into being Batman. They are very similar to Bungie in that regard. Not necessarily the best storytellers, but they make a thrilling experience regardless.

I definitely understand the criticism of how female characters are sexualized and male characters have muscles upon muscles. That being said, many of the comics over-embellish these characters to make them fantastical. The Arkham games follow that trend taking a lot of inspiration from comics, and less so from a more realistic portrayal such as the Nolan films.

Can't really mess up that much right now at the end, the driving mechanics is the thing they have to nail (though Ubisoft has proven me wrong on both), at least it can't be worse than Origin since Rocksteady is the one handling it. It's like Episode 7, at least it can't be worse than the Prequels...unless JJ gets Ford killed.
Asylum is still the best.

I can't believe some of the people here agree with this article, first of all graphic novels or comics as some people call them have always used over sexualized characters, male and female, the Catwoman wears a skin tight suit with a whip for gods sake.
And the Batmobile not being a main point or mechanic, the Batmobile has been a main staple of the movies, comics, and shows so why not the game, in fact it adds a unique gameplay mechanic that will keep the game fresh and distinguish it from it's counterparts and prequels.
Another thing you mentioned is the bulky look, well most of the characters are covered in body armor so what do you expect, body armor isn't exactly spandex, as for Batman being to big, he's a superhero, do you expect a midget with no upper body strength and a pair of bifocals, how about a 6 foot 2 inch 100 pound stick man, no you expect a tough guy with a suit that even has a 6 pack.
I don't think I agree with even one point made here, so what if it's not the "Best Game Ever" it's shaping up to be a great game with new and interesting gameplay and that's good enough for me.

I hope this doesn't make me sound like a jerk, but I can't stand Ben Reeves's writing. I've got nothing against him personally, and I enjoy hearing him interact with GI's staff on the many different features he's been on - I especially like seeing him interview people on the street. But whenever he writes something online it makes me feel like I'm back in high school reading the monthly student newspaper. His magazine articles are admittedly much better (and I'm going to guess that's due to great editors). Am I alone in my thinking?